FAIRFIELD -- Long before Geno Auriemma was inducted into the Hall of Fame or won the first of his eight national championships as the head women's basketball coach at UConn, he played at the Salvation Army Center in Norristown, Pa. It was a place where kids could go and take part in numerous sports and activities.

The Salvation Army Center reminds Auriemma a great deal of the Cardinal Shehan Center in Bridgeport, which plays a significant role in aiding the youth of Fairfield County. He has attempted to do whatever he could in recent years to aid in the development of the Shehan Center, and he made another contribution Tuesday night.

Auriemma entertained more than 300 people for nearly 80 minutes at Sacred Heart University's Edgerton Center. The event raised about $25,000 to benefit the Shehan Center's After School and Saturday Program.

"Money's hard to come by these days and anything that we can do to raise money and keep the programs going, I enjoy doing that,'' Auriemma said. "The people down here are really, really good when it comes to turning out for events. The couple of breakfasts that I've spoken at, there's a lot, a lot of people there and a lot of volunteers and an awful lot of people working really hard to make those events happen.''

Auriemma previously served as the guest speaker at the Shehan Center's Celebrity Breakfast and has played in its golf tournament as well. He began his day Tuesday by playing 17 holes at the Connecticut Golf Club in Easton, finishing with both an amusing and informative conversation on stage with Paul O'Connor, the director of basketball operations for the Central Connecticut men's basketball team and the son of Shehan Center Executive Director Terry O'Connor.

Auriemma tabbed Diana Taurasi as the best player he has ever coached and Nykesha Sales as his favorite player to coach during his 28-year tenure. He praised UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey for her contribution to the program. He reiterated that he will not be the U.S. Women's Basketball coach at the 2016 Olympics. And he also said that he is unsure if the Huskies will ever again play Tennessee during the regular season.

"He's got the biggest heart,'' Terry O'Connor said of Auriemma. "He wins a gold medal and he's got a heart of gold, too. He cares. He cares about inner-city kids. He knows what the Shehan Center does. And so any time I've asked him to do anything, whether it's playing in the golf tournament, Celebrity breakfast, this (event), he said, `OK, I'm there.'"

Auriemma returned to the part of the state that saw the Huskies draw sellout crowds during the NCAA Bridgeport Regional at Webster Bank Arena March 30 against Maryland and April 1 against Kentucky. While nothing is certain at this point, there is no doubt that he would like to see UConn play a regular-season game in Bridgeport at some point.

"I know that there are other places in the state that are Connecticut fans," Auriemma said. "My own personal opinion is we can sit where we are and have people come to us or we can take another step and go to where they are. And I'm a firm believer that's a good way to sell our product. It's a good way to expose who we are and continue to grow our brand."